• Your feedback is appreciated — please leave comments on any of the posts.• To find specific rock features or look up movie titles, TV shows, actors and production people, see the "LABELS" section — the long alphabetical listing on the right side of the page, below.• To join the MAILING LIST, send me an email at iversonmovieranch@gmail.com and let me know you'd like to sign up.• I've also begun a YouTube channel for Iverson Movie Ranch clips and other movie location videos, which you can get to by clicking here.• Here's a link to Garden of the Gods, the best-known section of the Iverson Movie Ranch (featured in the movie "Stagecoach," the "Lone Ranger" TV show and hundreds of other productions).• To go right to the great Iverson cinematographers, click here.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Like most of the buildings along the Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, the Saloon adopted a number of identities over the years. When it first appeared in "Along Came Jones" it was the First Chance Saloon.

"Flaming Feather" (1952): Last Chance Saloon

A few years later it would come full circle with a role as the Last Chance Saloon in the Sterling Hayden-Forrest Tucker Western "Flaming Feather" from Paramount.

Note the curved roofline and the painted glass of beer on the front of the building. The giant glass of beer will turn up again in other productions.

"Treasure of Ruby Hills" (1955)

Filmmakers apparently took a liking to the name "Last Chance Saloon," bringing it back — along with a new sign on the front of the building — for the Allied Artists Western "Treasure of Ruby Hills."

The town was "fixed up" to look like a ghost town in the movie, and the Saloon did its part — including the usual tumbleweeds and loose boards, along with a massive crack in the storefront.

"Treasure of Ruby Hills"

As a sidenote, the Iverson Western street appeared in "Treasure of Ruby Hills" as the ghost town of "Silvertown" — the same name that has been widely used for the old Western set at Corriganville in Simi Valley.

"The Millerson Case" (1947)

The Saloon originally had a straight roofline on the front of the building, as seen in this shot from the Crime Doctor movie "The Millerson Case."

"Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" (1949)

The building played a bank in "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass," where
the action took viewers around back during a bank heist and gave us a look at the rarely seen back end of the
building. Also note the side of the bank building, toward the left of the shot, where a staircase would soon be installed.

"Calamity Jane and the Texan" (1950)

The wooden exterior staircase on the north side of the Saloon building first appeared around 1950. The two shots above — from two different Calamity Jane movies — show this side of the building before and after the staircase was installed. This shot, featuring Evelyn Ankers as Calamity, was also part of an earlier post on Casa Grande, which you can read by clicking here.

"The Hills of Utah" (1951)

In a screen shot from the Gene Autry B-Western "The Hills of Utah," a couple of badmen lurk near the Saloon's new wooden staircase.

"The Nevadan" (1950)

The Saloon's original flattop storefront remained in place into the early 1950s, as in this example from Columbia's Cinecolor Western "The Nevadan," starring Randolph Scott.

"Passage West" (1951)

One of the last appearances of the straight roofline is in Paramount's John Payne Western "Passage West," filmed in Technicolor. Oat Mountain looms in the background, at top center.

"Gold Raiders" (1951)

Later that same year, the building's new storefront and curved roofline surface in the Three Stooges movie "Gold Raiders." You may be able to spot the painted beer glass, already in place on the Saloon's new storefront.

Here's the "Gold Raiders" shot again, this time highlighting the Saloon's new curved roofline and the barely visible painted glass of beer. Please click on any of these photos to see a larger version.

"The Hills of Utah": Gene Autry and the new Saloon storefront

The curved roof reappears with Gene Autry in "The Hills of Utah," released just three weeks after "Gold Raiders." With both movies coming out in September 1951, and with a number of early TV Westerns getting up to speed around the same time, the Iverson Western town set would have been in high demand. The set's body of work suggests that it was a busy place in general during its 12-year lifespan (1945-1957).

Once again, the painted beer glass is visible, although we wouldn't tend to notice it if we weren't looking for it.

"Wagon Team" (1952)

In another Gene Autry movie, "Wagon Team," released the following year, the Saloon is again seen. This shot looks toward the north end of the street, with the Saloon at far left — again with its curved roof and painted beer.

"Night Raiders" (1952)

The Whip Wilson movie "Night Raiders," from Monogram, provided a good look at the window design in the new storefront. The stem of the beer glass is visible midway between the two windows.

"Cripple Creek" (1952) — More special effects than reality

An unusual treatment of the Saloon and other buildings along the Western street is found in the Columbia Western "Cripple Creek," starring George Montgomery. A painted background and other special effects are used to create a rundown version of the town and place it in a make-believe setting.

Here's my attempt to break down elements of the shot. It appears to me that only the buildings on the right side of the shot are real. It seems that much of the artwork on the left was
inspired by the look of the Saloon.

"Son of Paleface" (1952)

A more conventional way to make the town appear to be falling apart was to bring in the perennial tumbleweeds and pry loose a few boards, as was done yet again for the Bob Hope Western comedy "Son of Paleface," from Paramount. The Saloon can be seen at the far left of the frame.

"Sky King" TV show (shot in 1957, aired in 1958)

Both the Saloon, on the left, and the Hotel, on the right, show signs of real-world wear-and-tear in this shot from late 1957 for the TV series "Sky King." The end was at hand, as the dismantling of the town set had already begun at the time of this shoot for the episode "Dead Man's Will." The episode premiered Feb. 22, 1958.

In another shot from the "Sky King" episode we can see that much of the roofing on both the Saloon and the Livery Stable across the street has been removed. Casa Grande, which previously spanned the north end of the street, has already been torn down, and the rest of the town set would soon follow.

"The Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, one building at a time" is a series of posts on the movie and TV history of each
of the major structures making up Iverson's town set,
which stood from 1945 to 1957 and appeared in hundreds of productions.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Livery Stable announced the arrival of Iverson's Western street with this appearance in 1945 introducing the newly minted set as the town of "Payneville," and the stable itself as Payneville Hay & Grain, in the Gary Cooper movie "Along Came Jones."

The building slowly comes into view as Cooper, in the title role of "slow-talkin', slow-walkin'" Melody Jones, and his sidekick, George Fury, played by William Demarest, first ride into town.

Gary Cooper and William Demarest ride into Iverson Village in "Along Came Jones"

The film luxuriates in its slow-paced introduction to the town set, allowing the hero and sidekick — and along with them, the viewer — to soak in the ambiance of the place. It adds up to a fittingly reverent first look at a town that would go on to be seen hundreds of times in movies and early TV shows.

TV fans who go back far enough will remember William Demarest as Uncle Charley on "My Three Sons."

Gary Cooper in "Along Came Jones"

Cooper was responsible for the construction of the Western street in 1945, having it built for the only movie on which the two-time Oscar-winning actor had a producer's credit, "Along Came Jones." In this shot from the movie, the star and producer appears to be sizing up the end result of his labor of love. Behind him are the Livery Stable, on the right, and a smaller building on the left that would undergo extensive remodeling soon after appearing as a "ladies' and gentlemen's furnishings" shop in Cooper's movie.

"The Millerson Case" (1947)

Situated in a strategically important position at the south end of town, the Livery Stable went on to a long and productive career in movies and television. In this shot from the Crime Doctor movie "The Millerson Case," a catfight takes place right in the middle of the street, with the Livery Stable as its backdrop.

"The Millerson Case"

The same movie also features this unusual view of the town set, with the southern face of the Livery Stable holding down the right half of the shot.

A few of the town's main structures are identified in this version of the shot. The town is seen almost directly from the south, which was not a commonly used angle.

"Check Your Guns" (1948)

Another unusual view of the Livery Stable, from the Eddie Dean B-Western "Check Your Guns," shows the full expanse of the building as it appeared from the west.

"Gold Raiders" (1951)

For the Three Stooges movie "Gold Raiders," a sign was placed on the building identifying it as the "Harry Temple Livery." I believe this may have been meant as a humorous allusion to Moe's trademark haircut.

"Arrow in the Dust" (1954)

I haven't run across nearly as many good shots of the Livery Stable in color as I have in black-and-white, but here's a pretty good one, from the Sterling Hayden Western "Arrow in the Dust."

"Sky King" TV show (1955)

Aerial footage of the Western street from the TV series "Sky King" shows the location of the Livery Stable at the south end of town — the opposite end of the street from Casa Grande, the subject of the previous entry in this series.

"Whirlybirds" TV show (1957)

Two years after the "Sky King" footage, a bird's-eye view from the TV series "Whirlybirds" captures the corral area behind the Livery Stable, with a little bit of the building visible in the top right corner. This shot was taken around the time the Western town was beginning to be dismantled.

The shot appears in an episode of "Whirlybirds" titled "Fury Canyon," which premiered July 25, 1957. A number of the features that can be seen in the photo are identified above. The flat space in the bottom center of the shot, below where the vehicle is parked, is where the mobile home park's swimming pool area is now located.

"Man in the Saddle" (1951)

Drama plays out around the southern steps of the Livery Stable in the Randolph Scott Western "Man in the Saddle" from Columbia. The photo features Cooper Rock, in the middle of the shot, along with a view of Iverson's Eucalyptus Grove in the background. Cooper Rock is named after the man who built the town, Gary Cooper.

"Sky King" (1957): The Western street partially dismantled

By late 1957 the town was beginning to be torn down, with Casa Grande no longer in place at the north end of the street and other buildings in various stages of demolition. The above shot from the "Sky King" episode "Dead Man's Will" shows the Western street as a ghost town, a frequent role in the town's later years.

Taking a close look at the "Sky King" shot, the roof of the Livery Stable is little more than a frame at this point — and across the street, the Saloon is in even worse shape. The episode premiered Feb. 22, 1958.

"The Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, one building at a time" is a series of posts on the movie and TV history of each
of the major structures making up Iverson's town set,
which stood from 1945 to 1957 and appeared in hundreds of productions.

Friday, January 23, 2015

"El Paso" (1949): Casa Grande, at the north end of Iverson's Western street

Casa Grande was an easy choice to lead off this series on the Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, because it's one of the most interesting and complex buildings in the town set. It wasn't part of the original set when the town was built in 1945, but was added a few years later and quickly became one of the iconic features of the set, occupying a high-profile position at the north end of the street.

"The Lone Ranger" (1949) — an early TV appearance by Casa Grande

This is probably the first appearance by Casa Grande on television, in an episode of the TV show "The Lone Ranger" called "The Renegades," which premiered Nov. 3, 1949. The building looks quite different here from its appearance around the same time in "El Paso," with wider pillars and a smaller roof over the porch area in "The Lone Ranger," along with a different configuration for the second story. But it's the same building in both photos.

In the "Lone Ranger" episode, Casa Grande serves as the base of operations for Father Batista, played by Wheaton Chambers. In this shot from "The Renegades" the Lone Ranger, played by Clayton Moore, confers with Father Batista in front of Casa Grande.

Another screen shot from "The Renegades" showcases one of the more "adobe-looking" corners of Casa Grande. Appearing alongside Father Batista is B-Western veteran Kenneth MacDonald, at right, playing Inspector Williams.

Kenneth MacDonald, left, vs. the Three Stooges

Among MacDonald's more than 400 credits in film and television, he had a recurring role as a sheriff on "The Range Rider" in the early 1950s and took his share of pies to the face as a frequent foil for the Three Stooges in their Columbia shorts of the 1940s.

"Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" (1949): looking north toward Casa Grande

The earliest productions I've been able to find that include Casa Grande are all from 1949, with the building surfacing both in films and on TV that year. The above shot of Iverson Village comes from the 1949 release "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass," starring Yvonne De Carlo as Calamity and Howard Duff as Sam.

The shot looks north along Iverson's Western street, with Casa Grande spread out across the end of the street. 1949 marks the beginning of what might be considered the peak period for Iverson Village, which had recently undergone extensive remodeling on the east side of the street, shown here.

Yvonne De Carlo as Calamity in "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass"

De Carlo is seen in front of Casa Grande in the above screen shot from "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass." The building appears in the movie as the Exchange Hotel.

Yvonne De Carlo as Lily Munster

You may remember Yvonne De Carlo as Lily on "The Munsters."

"El Paso" (1949): Iverson Village, aka El Paso Street

Paramount's "El Paso" and Universal's "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" came out just one month apart, with "Calamity" making it to theaters first. Following the release of "Calamity" on the Fourth of July, 1949, Paramount rolled out "El Paso" on Aug. 5. Both movies were filmed in Cinecolor, and both prominently featured Casa Grande and the Iverson town set.

"El Paso": the Iverson Western street as the town of El Paso, Texas

While the backstory on the construction of Casa Grande is not clear, it's a good bet that the structure was built by
Paramount for its John Payne-Sterling Hayden Western "El Paso." It comes down to either "El Paso" or "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass," and my money's on the Paramount production, which not only would have had the bigger budget of the two films, but also showcases Casa Grande far more extensively.

"Sky King" TV series (footage from 1955): aerial view of Iverson Village

Some readers may be disappointed to learn that Casa Grande was in reality a false front, as were other parts of the town set. The above aerial view, which comes from remarkable footage shot for the TV show "Sky King" that aired in a number of episodes of the series, exposes Casa Grande from the back, toward the right of the shot.

This annotated version of the "Sky King" shot points out how Casa Grande is oriented at the northern end of Iverson Village. The street does not line up perfectly north and south, but "leans" a bit, running southwest to northeast. The aerial shot oversees the layout from the east, and reveals that even though Casa Grande may look impressive from the front, there's not much behind it.

Another annotated version of the "Sky King" shot identifies key features of the Western street, along with buildings that were located west of the town set that were left over from the 1937 Shirley Temple movie "Wee Willie Winkie." These sets from "Wee Willie Winkie" were rarely filmed in later years, but were used as a fort for a while in the late 1930s and early 1940s. You can read more about this spectacular fort set by clicking here.

"Calamity Jane and the Texan" (1950)

A
little more than a year after Universal's release of
"Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" came the Columbia feature "Calamity Jane
and the Texan," which again featured Casa Grande. As it did in "El Paso," Casa Grande again plays a cantina — the Prairie Queen this time, run by Calamity.

If the second story looks familiar, it's the same piece used in "The Lone Ranger," seen in a photo near the top of this post. This "bolt-on" second story wound up being redesigned a few times over the years. This version apparently went on after the fancier "El Paso" setup was ditched, and this one didn't remain in use for long.

Almost as soon as it was built, Casa Grande began playing a role as part of what might best be described as a small adobe village at the north end of the town set. In another shot from "Calamity Jane and the Texan," we get a good look at an adobe wall that has been built adjacent to the main structure.

This wider shot from "Calamity Jane and the Texan" shows the bulk of Casa Grande, in the center and right portion of the shot, along with part of the adobe wall, above the horses on the left. Smooth Hill looms in the background.

Here's another angle on Casa Grande from "Calamity Jane and the Texan," with this shot revealing some of the rough texture of the bricks that decorate the building's exterior. In this shot we can also see that the adobe wall at the left juts out from the main structure at an angle.

"Calamity Jane and the Texan" — Evelyn Ankers as Calamity

Originally released
under the title "The Texan Meets Calamity Jane," the Columbia picture
featured Evelyn Ankers in the role of Calamity. Here Ankers stands at the top of the stairs outside the saloon, near the south end of town.

Ankers continued a tradition of glamorized Hollywood versions of Calamity Jane. In this shot taken on the Upper Iverson, Calamity mourns the death of Wild Bill Hickok, and we see a little bit of veteran character actor Lee "Lasses" White as her friend Colorado Charlie. The scene takes place at the grave of Wild Bill, which I've blogged about before. Please click here for pictures and details about Wild Bill Hickok's gravesite at Iverson.

Martha Jane Cannary — the real Calamity Jane

The real Calamity Jane — born Martha Jane Cannary or Canary — may not have looked quite the part of a movie star, but she was a true frontierswoman and a formidable presence in her own right.

"Gold Raiders" (1951)

In the Three Stooges movie "Gold Raiders," Casa Grande resurfaces as "Acme House," and at this point the building has yet another configuration for its second story. This version of the second story is a hybrid — half adobe and half wooden building.

"Flaming Feather" (1952)

Filmed around the same time as "Gold Raiders" but released the following year, the color production "Flaming Feather" from Paramount uses much of the same signage seen in the Stooges movie and offers a better look at the "split personality" of Casa Grande's new second story — adobe on the left, wood on the right. This configuration, minus the Acme House sign, remained in use for much of the rest of the building's lifespan.

"Wagon Team" (1952)

In the Gene Autry movie "Wagon Team," released the same year as "Flaming Feather," the building's adobe qualities are brought to the forefront. The second story was still in place, but this sequence shoots around it, focusing on the single-story left half of the building along with the familiar low adobe wall to its left. It's clear in this shot that the adobe wall, which occupies the left portion of the frame, is supposed to look like a building.

"Annie Oakley" TV series (1954): A small adobe village at the north end of the street

This shot from an episode of the TV series "Annie Oakley" titled "Justice Guns" shows off the adobe characteristics of that whole north end of the Western street — even without the adobe wall next to Casa Grande being visible in this photo. The "Annie Oakley" episode premiered April 17, 1954.

The main buildings making up the "adobe village" part of Iverson's Western street

Combining with Casa Grande to create the adobe village were a couple of small
adobes that had been in place for years on the western side of the
street. Here's the "Annie Oakley" shot again with those buildings, the North Adobe and the South Adobe, identified. I will go into detail about these structures in upcoming entries in this series.

Iverson Village before Casa Grande ...

"Cheyenne Takes Over" (1947)

This is what the north end of town looked like back in 1947, in the Lash LaRue movie "Cheyenne Takes Over," a couple of years before Casa Grande was built. The north end of town was wide open, with Center Rock visible in the background.

This version of the shot points out Center Rock, along with Oat Mountain in the distance. Once Casa Grande was in place, Center Rock could no longer be readily seen from the town. Also noted here is Pond Rock, which remained a feature of the town set throughout the set's existence. Pond Rock was typically hidden in the background behind the General Store, which is partially visible here.

"Check Your Guns" (1948): The north end of town

A year or so later, the Eddie Dean movie "Check Your Guns" again featured Iverson Village. This was soon before Casa Grande was built, and the north end of town remained vacant, with a virtually unblocked view of Smooth Hill.

"The Iverson Movie Ranch Western street, one building at a time" is a series of posts on the movie and TV history of each
of the major structures making up Iverson's town set,
which stood from 1945 to 1957 and appeared in hundreds of productions.

Reel Cowboys of the Santa Susanas

I'm searching for information on the great cinematographers of the B-movie era

I want to honor the legacy of the cinematographers and other production people who worked in relative obscurity during the heyday of the B-Western and the Saturday matinee serial. If you have information about any DPs, directors, production managers or other behind-the-scenes people involved in making B-movies, serials or early TV shows from the silent era through the 1960s — especially those involved in location work and anyone who may have worked at the Iverson Movie Ranch — I would love to hear from you.

With the exception of the most high-profile figures from this period — movie stars and prominent directors, mainly — I have been able to dig up precious little information on the talented people who shaped our movie history and our culture through low-budget, independent productions. I think it would be tragic to allow their legacies to fade from memory while there are still people around — a few, anyway — who can tell their stories.

I would especially like to hear from the survivors — spouses, friends, co-workers, children, grandchildren and beyond — of those who played a role in making movies at Iverson, as well as anyone who is around who has his or her own memories of Iverson.

I have a special interest in cinematographers — the men who aimed their cameras at Iverson's dramatic rock formations, among other things, and thereby recorded the ranch's legacy for posterity. I hope to hear from anyone who might be able to help flesh out their biographical information and gain insights into what made them tick.

Here are some of the cinematographers I would like to find out more about:

Want to see more Iverson Movie Ranch photos? Click on the picture of Hawk Rock, below, to go to the Iverson Movie Ranch photo page on Flickr.

What's that photo at the top of the page?

The black-and-white photo used as the page header is a screen shot from "Fury at Showdown," a 1957 feature from Robert Goldstein Productions starring John Derek, John Smith and Carolyn Craig. The film's director is Gerd Oswald, with cinematography by Oscar winner Joseph LaShelle.

The gargoyle-like figure that looms above the rider is Wrench Rock, a favorite among fans of the Iverson Movie Ranch. In the early days of my Iverson research I called it Bobby, and that name still appears in some places. The rock was traditionally called Indian Head, which unfortunately is a name that has been given to a number of rocks at Iverson.

Wrench Rock is located on what was the Upper Iverson, in the heavily filmed South Rim area, and can still be seen there today, although its "best side" — the view seen at the top of this page — is now blocked by a tree.

The rock is also sometimes called Upper Indian Head to distinguish it from the well-known Indian Head located on the Lower Iverson, in Garden of the Gods.